Perhaps no element is more important to a team than chemistry.
Talent of course is a prerequisite, but even highly skilled teams have struggled to find their footing if they aren’t on the same page and rowing in the same direction.
That along with culture are things that head coach Josh Eilert puts first and foremost. It’s a fabric that can rip teams apart at the seam and is something that West Virginia values with this group.
“Everybody is bought into the program and the staff. There are no arguments. We’re all in this together and we’re going to pull through and we’re all rowing in the same direction,” he said. “You got to build that trust, build that culture and build that up through the organization.”
The Mountaineers have a team that returns only four players from a season ago with the bulk of the roster coming to Morgantown from the transfer portal or from other locations. But even in the early stages of the pre-season, Eilert has been encouraged by how the team has gelled.
Some of that was forged during the coaching change when Bob Huggins stepped down in the summer. The players that were left on the roster had to decide if they wanted to stay or leave and the bulk elected to band together.
And the rest has been developed over time as the new coaching staff filled out the roster with some different pieces leading up until the start of school.
“You guys might have some questions as to who the rotations are going to be and what that’s going to look like but I don’t,” Eilert said. “Next man up. We’re going to figure out who wants to be here and do things right and move forward.”
But that chemistry doesn’t just extend to the players on the floor, it’s critical with the coaching staff as well. The Mountaineers have four assistants, each with limited on the court experience in the role, that must learn to work together and with the players on the roster.
Those assistants are DerMarr Johnson, Da’Sean Butler, Alex Ruoff and Jordan McCabe with only Johnson and Ruoff having any previous experience together last season when the latter was a graduate assistant with the program.
“I have good relationships with everybody on my staff but they haven’t worked together before though,” Eilert said. “How we gel as a staff and athletes together that’s just as important.”
In practice, Eilert is focusing on trying to mix and match the rotations and the teams in order to keep it competitive day in and day out. He has yet to separate anybody in terms of what a starting lineup could look like but is trying to see who all plays well together and how effective they are.
In the end, Eilert doesn’t believe it’s necessarily fair to have conversations about expectations yet but he understands that the goal is to reach the NCAA Tournament and advance as far as possible. And in order to reach some of those goals, Eilert has put systems in place and numbers that must be hit.
“You have those conversations and put some systems in place but also some numbers. And try to maximize yourself as a team,” Eilert said.
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